


Grounded (Rewrite)

by FlyingOddity



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Bullying, Child Abuse, M/M, Multi, My original AU, Soulmate AU, Soulwings, Still not sure what to put here, this is a rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-07 19:39:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17372060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingOddity/pseuds/FlyingOddity
Summary: Living the life that Virgil lead is not an easy task. Being kicked out of his house was most likely the best thing to happen to him. What does that tell you?(Just want to say thank you to the people who still like my original and are looking forward to this rewrite! Posts will, at the very least, be once a week!)





	1. The Beginning (Of What? No-One Knows)

"Happy birthday!" two sung out in unison. 

"Blow out your candles!" A female's voice that almost resembled an alarm clock, cut though the house. A period of silence...then-"Now we can cut the cake right?!" a cheerful, energetic, highly girlish voice screeched. 

It was the type of voice you'd hear when walking though the halls of a very drama infested high school. 

"Of course, sweetheart. Then we can move onto presents." a deep booming voice responded. 

"Yes!!" Laughter followed the excited exclamation. It was the sweet sixteen birthday party of his sister, Samantha. His...well he hesitated to even call them his father and mother. They certainly wish that he never existed, if they somehow found out he almost called them his parents, even if it was just in his thoughts, he'd probably get punished for it. Either way, the loud voices and the music of the party downstairs woke him from the pitiful sleep he had finally managed to get. It seems the bags under his eyes are only going to get deeper. Sighing to no-one but himself, a boy stares up to the ceiling of his room. A birthday party should be a day of joy, right? Not for him. 

From the very beginning, his par-his current guardians, hated his guts. The reason? He was a boy, he was of the male gender. According to the 'helpful' explanation, if you could even call it one, that was practically screamed at him when he was only the tender age of...four? Maybe, doesn't matter. Anyway, according to the loud vent from his mo-female guardian, while his male guardian had his own vent session with his body, he had ruined their 'perfect version of a family'. They had everything planned perfectly. They met in collage, dated, and fell in love. They finished their schooling and were planning on having a daughter after they both found, and got, the jobs they wanted. Everything went according to plan, until he was born. Obviously he wasn't the perfect girl they wanted. Basically everything went to hell afterwards. At the very least they took care of him until he was old enough to walk and speak, if only a little. After that, they did whatever they wanted to with him. Beat him, yell at him, blame him for things that were obviously their fault. They tell him how he was a mistake and how they should've just gotten rid of him when they found out he was a boy. They would lock him in his room constantly and never let him out. Currently they only lock him in his room when he was to be punished, since at the very least they allowed him to go to school and his part-time jobs (as long as they got some of his paycheck). When he was about a year and a half old, they had another child, this time it was the daughter they wanted.

The guardians attention switched from him to his sister, Samantha. Which was good, since he was pretty sure if he had gotten any more aggravated at him while he was only one and a half, they probably would've killed him. Instead of having their negative attention constantly, they ignored him as much as they could. What's ironic is the only reason he was able to survive was because of his sister. When they were really young, his sister was rather smart and noticed how they weren't feeding him anything. She would sneak bits of food here and there. When his guardians were busy, she would come to find him in his room, which he was usually locked in, sit by the door and talk to him. She would tell him about her day, what people or animals she saw, the candy she had gotten from her father. He thought they would be together for ever, Virgil and Samantha. She was his best friend...or at least maybe she was once. The reason its ironic is because she is, probably, his top abuser. A some point when she was six and he was seven, something changed. Now she hates him just as his guardians hate him. No longer would she sneak him food or just talk with him. Now, she was the cause of most of his beatings from his guardians. Anything bad she did, she blamed on Virgil and his guardians wouldn't even hesitate to punish him.

So no, he wouldn't say that he was happy on his sister's sweet sixteen. He had been locked in his room all day, without a chance to leave, because apparently it was Samantha's 'present'. Luckily, he made it a habit to stay up late and sneak food after everyone else in the house was asleep, as well as keep an eye out for any food he could stash from school. Currently his small food stash had enough to get through the day. Normally he isn't so lucky and would have to survive through the day with hunger pains. Taking a breakfast bar to nibble on from the aforementioned stash, that he had managed to get from the trash bin at school, he decided to force himself to go back to unconsciousness. However, after ten minutes of tossing and turning, the noises coming from the downstairs birthday party basically told him to give up trying. Instead he decided to do his daily contemplation.

Pulling off his covers, he got up from his bed, Virgil walked to the opposite end of his room where a lone mirror stood leaning against the wall. He had another habit, one that he honestly wishes he could get rid of. Standing in front of the mirror, he took off his plain t-shirt to look at...everything. His eyes traced his many scars, leftovers from beatings that might have not scared should he have had the right medical attention. As well as 'other' scars that were caused by none other then himself. There was a difference between the two types of scars, easily noticeable if you were to look long enough. The scars caused by himself were razor thin, numerous were scattered across his lightly freckled skin. They were some on his wrists lightly wrapping around his thin arm, with most of them concentrated on his thighs. The leftover scars come in different shapes and sizes and are usually centered around his chest area with quite a few on his back near his soul marks. Some come up and over his shoulders with one in particular that was caused by Samantha 'accidentally' throwing a shard of glass, that was obviously aimed at him. At the thought of soul marks, Virgil turned his body to get a full view of his back. 

Through out his entire life, Virgil had seen a few different soul marks and the soul wings that sprouted from them. According to what he was taught in school, soul marks signified your soulmates. Soul marks were usually two oval like marks on the back. Their look could range from scar to tattoo-like. If you met and had skin to skin contact with your soulmate, that would trigger the growth of your soul wings. His elementary teacher, who was explaining this, told us how she had got her wings. She had met her wife right out of collage. She had just started a new job as a part-timer at some coffee shop and was lucky enough to have her soulmate as a costumer. One accidental touch was all it took to have small sprouts of wings underneath their clothing. After a few months of regular contact with her soulmate,  she had fully grown fluffy white wings. She had said that her wings resembled a snow owl, with the small tan dots that were on every feather being an indicator. Kinda funny given her name was Mrs. Snow. Ever since then, Virgil would spend a bit out of his day to look at his marks. This was because not only did he like to dream about his soulmates, but because of the fact that his were different.

Looking at his back now, Virgil only notices the scars first. His guardians had liked to mess with his back the most, all because of his soul marks. What was with his soul marks you ask? As shown in the mirror, he didn't only have one pair like most do, he had three. While it isn't abnormal, its rare to have more than one soul mate. Of course, since its rare, some people like to treat them as lesser beings, as all of humanity apparently has to have at least one of its own kind beneath them at all times. His guardians? Among the group of people who discriminate against multiple pairs of marks. Only gave them more reasons to hate him. He traced his hands softly across his soul marks, "Will they hate me...?" his voice, slightly broken from underuse, echoed out into the empty room. 

It was a daily question. It started when he noticed how much he had started to look like his guardians. His female guardian was on the taller side with short, bobbed, brown hair and long legs. She was the type of person who looked kind, but given his experiences, she actually wasn't. His freckles had actually come from his male guardian, however. He was slightly shorter than his soulmate with short black hair that he kept slicked back. He had slightly stubby legs that were a sore point for him. Virgil had accidentally found this out one day by making a small comment on them. The scars he got from the 'punishment' are a daily reminder to never say anything about his legs, or really anything about him, again. In any case, his guardians look like normal people to everyone else, but to Virgil, they looked like the most ugly people he hoped he would ever meet.

So, obviously, Virgil would like nothing more than to look like anyone else aside from his guardians. He believed that he looked like a demon, given that his guardians are most likely the king and queen of hell, what with their similar looking bat-like wings only adding to the look. This line of thought was always brought back to his future soulmates. Would he look like a demon to them? He was getting taller, lankier by the day. His naturally skinny frame, likely made skinner by malnutrition, wasn't the easiest on the eyes. His ribs were easily seen, with his collar bones only becoming more pronounced as the days pass. Deep brown hair lightly fell into his eyes occasionally, signifying the need for a haircut that would most likely never come. His skin, with lightly scattered freckles, was probably the palest he had ever seen since he rarely had a chance to leave the house, aside from school and his occasional part-time job. Not only that, but he had no reason to leave. He had no friends and no money (at least, no money he was willing to spend), this basically meant he had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Any money he was earning was going towards his future living arrangements. He's not dumb. He knows that his guardians are going to kick him out as fast as possible. The only feature of his body that he liked, were his deep violet eyes. Neither of his guardians had the same color eyes as him, not even Samantha. It was the one thing that reminded him that he wasn't them.

Breaking away from his thoughts, Virgil belatedly noticed it had gone quiet downstairs. Quietly turning away from the mirror, he silently toed to the door to his room, listening for any sign that someone was coming up to his door. If its quiet downstairs, there was a chance they were coming up here for him. After a few moments of silence he heard the slight thumping of footsteps. Thankfully, it seemed as if they were staying downstairs. Not letting this chance slip through his fingers, Virgil stayed as silent as humanly possible as he made his way to his old worn and torn bed. Slipping under the covers, he closed his eyes and managed to quiet down his thoughts enough to fall into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Kicked Out (Finally, I Was Waiting)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's finally able to leave and he meets someone who actually wants to talk to him. Weird.

 A bell rung out signifying the end of the school day. Hoards of teenagers shoved their way out of the school building. "See you guys over the summer!" Cheerful voices could be heard as he passed by. A group of friends saying goodbye with promises to hang out later. Of course there was no one making such promises with him, but at this point he doesn't really care. Virgil had gone though school like this his entire life. The last friend he had was most likely one of his classmates in elementary. The only thing he cared about now was getting away from anyone else so he wouldn't walk into-"Where did he go? We have unfinished business." A hoarse voice could be heard just behind him, mixed in with the crowd of students.

Just the person he didn't want to run into. The one person who went out of his way to make sure Virgil didn't think of the school as a safe space. Josiah. Of course, the guy's name doesn't matter, what does is that he's right behind him and somehow still doesn't see him. Must be the crowd of students. Or really needs glasses. He did tell Josiah he seemed like he needed glasses, of course now the guy hates him, so that backfired. Now, even more determined to get away, Virgil pushed himself out of the crowd and maneuvered himself behind a wall so that he was hidden from Josiah's view. Feeling a bit safer, he slowed down his pace and started towards his house.

Not that he really wants to go to the place he should call him home. However, he doesn't have a choice. At the very least his 18th birthday is soon. Just a few days away. He had been saving up his money for this day. The day he can leave and never look back. Virgil searched for months before he found a cheap apartment that he would have just enough money to afford. He planned to leave the moment he was legally 18, which was in the middle of the night, by taking anything he needed though the window in his room. He's left through the window before when he had to get to his job, but his door was locked. Either his guardians don't care, or don't know.

Before he realized it, he was before the door of a rather normal looking house. Just a simple two story home, with two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, one master bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room downstairs. Since his guardians had an extra room upstairs they let him stay in it. Otherwise, like the last house they lived in, he would've been forced into a closet or something.

Entering the house, Virgil could hear the beginning of an infomercial playing in the living room. Taking that as a sign he won't be noticed, he quickly went upstairs and into his room. Softly walking into his room, only relaxing when the door was fully closed, he walked over and put down his ripped book bag on his bed. He had his part-time job at the Starbucks a little down the road from his house to go to. Getting ready doesn't take too long. Going through the practiced motions swiftly and quietly, he had to change into his 'uniform', which was really only his cleanest jeans with a dark gray plain t-shirt and his favorite jacket with purple patches. The jacket was first and last thing he bought for himself, not really wanting to spend anymore money for things he could do without. He found it at a thrift shop in a state of disrepair, it had rips and tears all over with one of the sleeves almost falling completely off. Given its state, he was practically given it for free. He had patched it up with whatever he could find. Which ended up making the jacket look kinda like a halloween costume. However, he didn't care. He fixed it up himself, with his own two hands...and he loved it. It acted like a kind of protection for him. Not only that, but the parts he was able to find to patch up the jacket were a similar shade of purple as his eyes. It made the jacket special for him. All in all, he loved his jacket and that was that.

Finished with his preparations, Virgil moved over to his window. Given that he was on the second story of a two story building, it is implied that climbing would be necessary. Maneuvering himself out the window and keeping his hands gripped to the windowsill, he carefully placed his foot on a small divot in the house's wall and after assuring he had a good foothold and won't slip off, Virgil carefully removed the rest of his body from his room. He quickly found the next foothold through muscle memory and, with practiced movements, made his way down the side of the house.

Reaching the ground only took about a minute. Straightening out his clothes, he made his way to the sidewalk that was a little bit off from his window. His room's window faces the back of the house. Through a bit of shrubbery, there is a road just beyond the backyard. Thankfully the Starbucks just on that street was looking for a job. It made everything so much easier and he didn't have to risk being late because he couldn't get there on time. 

 

 

Virgil woke up at the prime time of-"Hmmmm What time is it...?" He tiredly opens his eyes, only to quick shut them. "Uggh.." His eyes felt so dry. Moaning to himself he turned on his side and tried to read the fading LEDs on his digital alarm clock, that he was fairly certain is broken. Blinking his eyes to try and have them adjust to the room, he found the dying alarm clock. 4:45 am... he wants to go back to sleep. Of course, no matter how much he wishes to sleep, its not going to happen. 

Finally convincing himself to get out of bed, he pulls off the thin sheets and picks himself up. He begins to go through his daily routine. By the time he was finished making himself at least slightly presentable does he realize something. It his birthday today. Now, normally, he doesn't really care. Since nothing special ever happens on his birthday. When he was younger, Samantha would get him a surprise gift behind her parents back. That doesn't happen anymore. However, its not the birthday itself that mattered, it is what it signified. Every birthday was another year closer to leaving the house. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and now finally he's eighteen years old. It means he can legally leave and never look back.

Looking around his room he can see that there are two bags filled with clothes, money, and some food. Virgil had prepared all of this last night so he could just grab the bags and go. As he thanks his sleep deprived past-self, he grabs the bags alongside his purple-patched jacket and moves to leave the now even more empty room. He was going to leave through the window, as planned, however it wouldn't open. He didn't want to go through the front door, but it seem as if he had no choice. As he quietly walked downstairs, he thought back to the memories of this house. There are very few that were good. Most of them being memories of when he was cut with something against that wall or he was forced into the corner over there, terrified. The trip down memory lane was not appreciated.

Virgil was about to open the door to leave once and for all, when suddenly-"Where do you think you're going?" the same deep voice that will haunt his dreams sounded out behind him. Not trusting himself to speak without making the man mad, Virgil kept quiet.

"Not going to say anything? Well, whatever. It doesn't matter." The man made his way over to him and before Virgil realized it, the man was directly in front of him. Even with the door at his back, he felt trapped. 

"I already know what you are about to do and let me tell ya', it seems we agree on something." The man who was once his guardian, someone who was supposed to take care of him, put his hands on Virgils shoulders and forcefully turned him to the door. Before Virgil's mind could catch up to what was happening, the man opened the front door and forcefully pushed him outside. Virgil tripped and only just barely caught himself before he fell on the ground.

"It's a good thing you already have everything you need, cause' you are not welcome back in this house." His voice was so full of disdain that even if someone didn't understand the English language, they would be able to easily tell that this man hated Virgil.

The man turned to go back into the house but paused his movements, looked at Virgil, and said, "Never come back." He slammed the door before Virgil could even think of responding.

HIs shoulder throbbed, most likely bruised from the rough grip that forced him outside. Of course that man just had to make sure he was the one with the last word. Virgil was literally leaving the house and never planning on coming back and yet the man had to make sure he didn't leave of his own volition, no, the man had to be the one to kick him out. Guess it doesn't matter now, there was no way in hell he was going to see them again, not if he had any say in it.

Mentally recomposing himself so he doesn't seem as if he had just been shoved out of the place he lived for most of his life, he started making his way to the sidewalk. The apartment he had planning on living in is a bit far from the man's house. Virgil liked that fact, however, that meant he had to walk all the way there. There wasn't any way around it, he couldn't afford to take a bus, if he did he most likely wouldn't have enough money to pay for the apartment and the food he was going to need to get through the week. Sighing to nobody but himself, he started the long trek to the new place he was going to live in.

Thankfully, outside was fairly cold which means he is in his element. The cold keeps him alert even when he feels like going into a coma doesn't sound that bad and its a comfortable temperature to wear his jacket. The walk wasn't half bad and since he was so used to walking to his part-time jobs, he didn't over exert himself to make it to the apartment. He was a little tired though.

The apartment building he had managed to find within his price-range was run down and looked as if it could use a good clean. However, the building was standing and did't look like its about to collapse, so that was good enough for Virgil. It was a three story building with an almost rusty coloring. Pushing open the front doors, revealed the reception desk for the building. There was a girl sitting behind the counter. She had long blond hair that was up in a messy half-bun, though her roots showed that her hair was originally brown. She had a mole just below her right deep brown colored eye. She had a pair of rusty colored Falcon wings with black tips. She seemed young, but looks can be deceiving. Making his way to the counter, the girl finally notices him.

Glancing up from her phone she was reading off of, she smiles and asks, "Hi, how can I help you?" in a surprisingly soft voice.

"...I'm here to ask about room," he paused, trying to recall the room that he saw was available, "24?"

"Oh! Did you want to know if it was still available?" the girl replied.

"Ah, yeah, I wanted to know if I could rent it?" The way she phrased that sounded as if the room was already taken...

"Great! Yes, the room is still available. If you wish to move in, I will need you to sign a few things for me." She sounded excited to have someone move in. Thank god it was still open for rent. If it wasn't, Virgil didn't really have a back up plan.

She took out some papers and they discussed about prices. How much would need to be paid when, the restrictions for the apartment building, and his future neighbors. Apparently, the person who was previously in room 24 was extremely loud and the neighbors hated it. They now have a pretty short fuse for loud noises. Perfect for Virgil. He thrives in the dark and silence. Virgil and the girl, whose name was Mackenzie, finished up the important talk about the apartment. Mackenzie then asked Virgil if he wanted her to lead him to his room. He was going to say no, but he figured it might be better to have her lead him to the room so he doesn't make any mistakes and head into the wrong room.

"Alright, right this way!" She seemed almost too eager to show him to his room, her wings puffing out and lightly opening from their folded state. The pair made their way to the only elevator in the apartment building. Mackenzie realized that Virgil wasn't exactly a conversationalist, so she went ahead and took the lead in making small talk. After talking about things that have occurred lately, like a stray dog that comes around and digs in the trash, she eventually gets on the topic of soul wings.

She had just finished warning him about the stray dog when she asked, "Hey do you wanna know about my soul wings?"

The sudden change in topic was unexpected, "Uh, sure."

She then went on to explain how she met her soulmate in a bar. Before Virgil could question whether she was actually old enough to be there, she said she had snuck in because she wanted to see what it was like. She nervously laughed and said how she didn't really like it. She wanted to leave almost immediately, but she was stopped by two men who where less than friendly. They had forcefully dragged her away from the exit to the bar and where going to bring her to the back when a boy came to her rescue. He was older than her by two years and was working there as a bartender. He noticed what was going on and jumped in to save her. However, he wasn't the strongest and was quickly overpowered. Mackenzie then jumping in to his rescue and was able to down one of the men. At Virgil's confused look, she explained that she took self-defense classes, she could take down many people as long they were alone, she couldn't take down two people at the same time. With their attention on the boy, she was able to take out one and run away with him. Only after everything settled down, did she and the boy realize that small puffs of wings had sprouted underneath their clothing.

By the time she reached the conclusion of the story, Virgil and Mackenzie had made it to his room. "Ah, i'm sorry for talking so long! It looks like we're here. Heres the key to your room." As she said that, she handed Virgil a key with an engraved 24 on the end. 

"Thank you for indulging my chatty tendencies. Its just that, you seem around my age, so its nice to have someone to talk to that isn't super old." She chuckled and turned to leave, "If you could, please, come down and talk every once and a while. It gets boring just sitting around doing nothing all day." She winked at him and walked down the hallway, back to the elevator. 

Virgil has no idea why she seemed to like him so much. He didn't really say anything during the entire conversation, only nodded every once and a while to let her know that he was listening. Not only that, but he most likely looked like a mess, his skinny frame may be mostly covered by his jacket, but its still easy to tell he didn't eat as much as he probably should by just looking at his face. Maybe she took pity on him. Or maybe she was just pretending to be nice so she could hurt him like his par-

No. That train of thought needs to stop there. Not everyone is like them. He can't immediately come to the conclusion that she is like them. That is like the worst insult he could think of. Snapping himself out off his thoughts, Virgil finally uses his room key to open the door to his new room and walks inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! New chapter! I wasn't expecting to have a new chapter to be out already. But weekends are magical things. Hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. Next chapter should introduce some more sides! Or at the very least Roman. ;)
> 
> See you all again later!


	3. A New Life (Maybe I Was Reborn?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil thinks back on his approximately six months at his new life.

 It was dark. As far as he could see it was just an empty void. He's been walking around for what seemed to be miles, however, its hard to tell what progress you made in a place where nothing exists. No objects. No people. No animals. No sound. No color. No light. No...life. He can't even hear his own footsteps or breathing. He starts running and running and running, with no end in sight. He doesn't even know why he's running, but he feels it's necessary. He's trapped, completely and utterly alone with nothing around. Only the inky black void that acts as if it consumes all. His breathing starts becoming faster. He's panicking. Theres no end and no beginning, there is nothing here and there never was. He can't do this again. Not again. Please...PLEASE...just.....let....me...OUT!-

Virgil bolts upright, his eyes thrown open in an unknown panic. He's shaking, gasping, and he can't seem to gain control of his body. He forces himself to look around, to make sure he's not still in the endless void, and the first thing that greats his eyes is light. The intensity of the light was unexpected and caused him to squint. However he didn't care that the light, that was WAY too bright for his poor eyes, hurt to look at. Right now it was the only thing that was slowly calming him down from that disaster of a nightmare. Light is the exact opposite of dark, so hopefully it can chase away the last few remnants of the inky void that had decided to make a home for itself inside his mind. Virgil tried to breath in and out. One, two, three, four-the next few minutes he slowly counted; his shaky breathing the only sound in the apartment.

Finally getting himself to relax enough, Virgil stands up from his sweat soaked bed and heads to the bathroom. As he turns on the shower and slowly undresses, he decided to make his mind focus on something else. Something more positive, like how these past few months in his new home have been. The first few days were rough. He needed to find a new job that was closer, since he couldn't walk all the way to the Starbucks anymore. It took him longer than he would've liked it to. He ended up going without food for awhile. However, Mackenzie noticed he was having trouble and invited him to work at the apartment. Virgil hadn't even thought of working where he was going to live, but Mackenzie insisted. She practically forced the job on him, all with a smile on her face. So, he now has a job at the apartment, thanks to Mackenzie's good word, mainly as a receptionist. He sometimes helps pass out papers (for bills and such) to each room or moves heavy things. The best part though, is that this job is by far the best paying, at least out of all the jobs he's had. For how much he needs to do on a day-to-day basis, the pay is great.

Finishing up his shower, Virgil dries himself off and exits the bathroom to get dressed. He's been here for about six months, or about half a year. In all that time, Mackenzie somehow forced herself into his life. After landing him a job at the apartment, he was around her more often then he expected to. She would always try and get him to talk or just talk to him about different things she had seen or done. She always knew when to stop pushing him to talk, basically she knew his boundaries from the very beginning. It was...new. No one really cared to just talk to him or get to know him well enough to even know what his favorite color was, and yet Mackenzie got to know him well enough that she heard a bit about his family as well as his multiple soul marks (that he tried to keep a secret). While she doesn't know the entire extent of what his 'family' did to him, she knows enough to hate them just as much as he does. Mackenzie is Virgil's best, and probably even first, friend. He's only been here a few months and now he couldn't even imagine life without her.

Before leaving his room, Virgil checked his computer. Something he had gotten from Mackenzie. She eventually found out about his 'hidden' love for drawing. She told him how it would be a great idea to post his drawings online. Of course he said he couldn't because 1) he didn't have a phone, 2) he didn't have a computer, 3) he didn't have a drawing pad. Basically he didn't have anything he needed to post things online. At the end of that conversation, he could see something in her eyes and he thought he might've made a mistake in telling her that. However, the next day she excitedly exclaims how she has a old computer and drawing pad he can have. He had tried to reject it, saying he could just save up for his own, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. Eventually she suggested that he could just buy her a can of coffee from the vending machine in the lobby of the apartment as payment. Virgil didn't really like only paying about 5$ for something that was probably 100x that amount. In the end, he gave up and accepted the computer and drawing pad. They weren't brand new, but they were in great condition. After setting the computer up in his room, Mackenzie ended up helping him create a blog on tumblr. From then on he would draw different things, whether they were requested by Mackenzie or otherwise, and post them online. Overtime he amassed a bit of a following. Currently he has about 500 followers and he takes commissions every once and awhile. It gets him a bit of extra money he could use for daily needs.

Anyway, Virgil has made it a habit to check his blog in the mornings, especially when he has commissions open. This way, he knows what he would need to work on after work. Looking through his messages, he notices that his last commission spot got taken. However, they overpaid. They paid 50$ for a commission spot that was only 25$. Before he could message the person to ask them if they made a mistake, he read the request.

'Request made by TheRoyaltyPrince:

Hello! Here is 50$ for a landscape of a kingdom with a majestic prince protecting it! (You can design the Prince and Kingdom however you see fit!) However, i'm sure you're wondering why I have paid 50$ for a colored landscape when you only ask for 25$ for a colored landscape. Well, that is because I think you are selling your wonderful art for too little! I have been a longtime follower of your blog, and i have to say, you have the most gorgeous art. The colors! The lines! The backgrounds! All of it is astounding! You make me wish I could draw like you! (I hate to admit it, but i am...not the best at coloring. I can draw! I can chose nice looking colors! I just can't put the two together...) Anyways! The extra is for you to use to improve your life and to show that your art is worth more! Can't wait to see more of you're artwork.'

Wow. Alright then. Virgil had seen some nice messages here and there. Just people complimenting his drawings or trying to butter him up for a free drawing. However, this one...is really heartfelt. He definitely wasn't expecting that this morning. Not only that, but the username sounded kinda familiar. He couldn't recall where he would've heard it, though. Well the extra money would definitely help him out, but he still feels bad accepting it. After looking though the rest of his messages, he closes out of tumblr and heads out of his room.

 

 

Today he was on receptionist duty, while Mackenzie was on stocking duty. This meant, once she was done with her job, she could just hang out in the lobby and they could both talk for awhile. There isn't much to do while being a receptionist for an apartment many don't even know exist. So after only an hour and a half, Mackenzie was already drinking her favorite can of lukewarm coffee from the vending machine and sitting in one of the many chairs scattered around the lobby. She had just finished restocking Mackenzie's favorite vending machine as her last task to be done for today. His shift lasts just another hour and twenty-five minutes, so he decided to tell Mackenzie about the new commission that had come just that morning.

"Hold up." Virgil finished his explanation, only for Mackenzie to suddenly pause and ask, "What did you say the user name was?" in a slow voice.

Confused he replied, "Uh, I think it was 'TheRoyaltyPrince'. Why?"

She jumped up from where she was sitting and sprinted over to the counter he was behind. "Dude! I know him!" She leaned against the counter's hard surface, "That guy has been a fan of yours since, like, when you first made your blog." 

"Ah," he had wondered why the name seemed familiar, "...I didn't recognize him." Now he kinda feels bad. This person had been there when he first started out and he didn't even remember the guy's username.

"Yeah, at first he kinda seemed stalker-ish. Like I would check your blog and he would leave a comment on everything! He didn't miss a single post. I got kinda worried about you, so I messaged him and he turned out to just be a guy who really likes your art." Mackenzie scratched the back of her neck, a gesture she usually does when she's nervous or embarrassed, "I felt kinda- well, kinda bad. I sorta just interrogated a random guy online who had no idea what was going on." She turned away, "Not my proudest moment..."

Not able to contain himself, Virgil burst out laughing. "I-I can't believe...you just-" he couldn't even finish his sentence. Mackenzie is always like that. Eager to protect anyone she believed deserved it. However, it usually lands her in positions like this, with misunderstandings. Its still funny every time though. The last time she had done something like this, she had encountered a stray dog that was being cornered by some guy that 'looked sketchy' as Mackenzie had said. She then proceeded to shove the dude to a wall to try and 'protect' the dog. Turned out that the dog was the 'sketchy' dude's and he was just trying to get his dog back home. He had the papers and everything to prove that the dog was his. Mackenzie felt so extremely embarrassed that, even though the dude said it was okay, she had run off. Only after she had verified everything of course.

She looked scandalized, "Virgil! Stop laughing at me! I was only trying to help you! And this is how you repay me?!" Flopping down on the counter with all the flair of a drama queen, her rusty colored wings puffed out. Mackenzie then makes sure to look Virgil dead in the eyes, and pouts.

She was making it so difficult to not laugh harder. He had to put a hand over his mouth to try and muffle his laughter. Seeing how he had been degraded to a non-functioning state of being, the bleached blond girl smirks, as if this was her plan all along. Picking herself up from the counter, she says, "Well, now that we're done laughing at my embarrassing mistake," she stretches, "I'm going to fly on over to Mcdonalds, 'cause I don't feel like walking over there." Mackenzie heads back over to her neglected can of coffee, just to chuck it into a garbage can. Just before she leaves the lobby, she glances over at Virgil, "You want anything? As long as its below 15$, don't worry about paying. I'll cover it." If it were anyone else, he would've rejected the offer, saying he can pay for himself. However, he knows her by know and she won't take no for an answer.

He sighs, "Just get me a medium frappe. I need the caffeine, but I really don't want to drink the coffee here. How can you stand the canned stuff?"

"At this point, i've become so numb to the taste, that I only really drink it because its a habit."

"Get out of the habit."

"No."

After watching Mackenzie leave, Virgil resigns himself to another hour of just sitting behind a counter, doing absolutely nothing. Well, maybe not nothing, after all that stray dog that hangs around the apartment might try to find its way in again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! A few things I need to apologize for!  
> 1\. Sorry for any mistakes! (I will go over this again another time, however I didn't want this to take longer than it looked like it would've.)  
> 2\. Sorry for not much happening in this chapter! (I was planning on more, however time didn't agree with me. Hopefully next chapter will be better!)
> 
> Okay, i feel like i might be missing something...but whatever! 
> 
> If I didn't post this chapter tonight, then it might've been another half a week till this chapter came out. I didn't want that to happen so...I kinda rushed a bit. Sorry. Comment any mistakes you find and I will be sure to fix them! School got in the way to doing more...but this week should be better! Also I think I will make Sunday my official 'due date' for chapters. So, if one doesn't happen during the week, expect it to come on Sunday!
> 
> Thank you all for the lovely comments. I hope you'll continue to enjoy Grounded (Rewrite)!


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